Greece
(Greek: Ελλάδα,
Elláda
(IPA: [e̞ˈlađa]),
or Ελλάς,
Ellás (IPA:
[e̞ˈlas])),
officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική
Δημοκρατία,
Ellinikí Dimokratía),
is a country in south-eastern Europe, situated on the
southern end of the Balkan peninsula. It is bordered by
Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and
Albania to the north and by Turkey
to the east. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of mainland
Greece while the Ionian Sea lies to the west. Both,
parts of the eastern Mediterranean basin, feature a vast
number of islands.

Regarded
as the cradle of western civilization and being the
birthplace of modern Democracy, Western philosophy, the Olympic
Games, Western Literature, Political Science and
drama including both tragedy and comedy, Greece has a
very long and remarkably rich history during which its
culture has proven to be especially influential in Europe,
Northern Africa and the Middle East. Today, Greece is a
developed nation, member of the European Union since
1981 and a member of the Eurozone since 2001.

Map
of Greece

History

Prehistory
and Antiquity

The
first proof of native intelligent human presence in Greece
came with the discovery of Petralona Archanthropus’
Skull, in Chalcidice in 1960. The skull has been dated
to be at least 70,000 years old, by two German
scientists: the anthropologist E. Breitinger and the
palaeontologist O. Sickenberg. Extensive research on the
issue has been done by the anthropologist Dr. Aris
Poulianos of Moscow
University, who claims this discovery obsoletes the
Indo-European theory.

The
shores of Greece's Aegean Sea saw the emergence of the
first civilizations in Europe, namely the Minoan and the
Mycenaen. After this, a Dark Age followed until around
800 BC, when a new era of Greek city-states emerged,
establishing colonies along the Mediterranean,
and using the new Greek alphabet. Plato described how
the Greeks live round the Aegean Archipelago "like
frogs around a pond"; their name has always been
associated with the sea. After the internal struggle
between Spartans and Athenians, all parts of Greece were
united under the rule of Alexander the Great and aimed
at the defeat of the 'eastern threat' of the Persians.
Alexander led the Greeks to a victorious campaign which
established a Greek Empire and introduced a new era in
world history, the Hellenistic.

Newfound
stability

In
the evening of July 23, 1974, ex Premier Constantine
Karamanlis was invited back from Paris
where he had found a political refuge. In the morning
hours of the following day, the plane carrying him
landed in Athens
amidst massive celebrations by cheering crowds that
could not believe that the ordeal they had to endure for
seven years was over. Karamanlis was immediately
appointed as the interim prime minister under President
Gizikis. Karamanlis founded the conservative Nea
Dimokratia party and he then won the elections.
Democracy had finally been restored and a democratic
republican constitution came into force in 1975. In
addition, a referendum held that same year, confirmed
the will of the overwhelming majority of the Greek
people to abolish the monarchy — this time
democratically. Therefore former King Constantine II and
his family remained in Britain and were not allowed free
access to the country until 2004. Meanwhile, yet another
prominent figure of the past, charismatic politician
Andreas Papandreou had also returned from the United
States and he had already founded the Panhellenic
Socialist Party or PASOK. Karamanlis won the 1977
parliamentary elections as well but he resigned in 1980,
giving his way to George Rallis. However, Papandreou won
the elections held on October 18, 1981 by landslide and
he formed the first socialist government in the history
of the nation. Papandreou dominated the Greek political
course for almost 15 years, up until his death in June
23, 1996.

Map
of Europe showing location Greece

Greece
as a member of the European Union

The
country became the tenth member of the European
Union on January 1, 1981. Over the course of the
last 25 years, and particularly during this past decade,
Greece has experienced a remarkable economic growth.
Widespread investments in industrial enterprises and
heavy infrastructure as well as funds from the European
Union and growing revenues from tourism, shipping and
services have raised the standard of living to
unprecedented levels. The country adopted the Euro in
2001.

Singers

The
famous Eurovision artist Manto lives in Athens.
Her career looks set to take off with a new album for
2006.

Manto

Greece
finally won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005 with a number called 'My
Number One'. The song was performed by Elena Paparizou who was born
in Sweden.